Of Fairy Tales And Arrows
by Morrigan428
Summary: Set in the mountains of PA... a woman has to come to believe in elves...
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own LOTR. I could never create such a masterpiece.  
  
Author's Notes and Warnings: This story is really just PG. It's not a love story. Well , I mean in a romantic way. Anyway, I am aware this story isn't very good, but as always feedback is nice.^_^ Things in :: :: denote thoughts.  
  
Of Fairy Tales and Arrows  
  
A Lord of the Rings Fanfic  
  
Chapter One  
  
The mountains of PA, USA, present time....  
  
"Elves don't exist dear." Heidi said pointedly, but in a calm, patient tone. She had come out for her annual visit a few days ago and her youngest cousin of 4 years had since latched on to her without letting go.  
  
"They DO too." the blond haired girl insisted stubbornly with a stamp of her foot emphasizing her point.  
  
Heidi let out a tolerant sigh and sat back in her chair hopeless. "Honey, little funny men with pointed ears that go around... helping people magically CAN NOT exist."  
  
"Do too." said the girl narrowing her eyes, trying her best to stand her ground.  
  
"Do NOT."  
  
"Do too."  
  
Do not."  
  
Do too."  
  
"HEIDI!!!!" screeched their grandmother from her downstairs bedroom next door to the living room where the two opposing forces were. "You are arguing with a 4 YEAR OLD! Keep it down!"  
  
Heidi bit her lip as she stared blankly in her grandmother' voice's direction. Her grandmother had not been well lately. She often complained of it, yet refused to go to a doctor, stating "They only make you worse." They needed to clear out so she could rest.  
  
She looked back at the blond haired girl who was standing there with her arms crossed, and a smug expression on her face. She let out a half hearted chuckle realizing how ridiculous the argument must've sounded. Getting up she stretched, then began to head to the staircase that led to her bedroom. But before she started up she hissed out in a low voice," DO NOT."  
  
She seen the girl's mouth tighten then begin to open to start the argument all over again. Heidi let out a laugh of mischief and bolted up the stairs to her room, her cousin hot on her heels.  
  
When the girl had came inside Heidi shut the door just as the child exclaimed, "THEY DO TOO!!!!! I've seen them."  
  
Heidi's bark of laughter was cut short by her second thought of what her cousin just said. This argument had been going on for two days now, ever since she had read The Elves and the Shoemaker to her. ::She said she has seen them?::  
  
"You say you've.... you've seen them?" Worries of her cousin possibly being schizophrenic danced into her thoughts. ::What if she is? My God, that would be horrible for a person her age...::  
  
"Yes..." the girl stated matter of factly, then walked over to the bed and plopped down.  
  
Heidi crossed her arms over her chest, " Where have you seen them?"  
  
Larine looked at her briefly then away placing her hands on her chest. "In the woods outside grandma and grandpa's house. They sometimes come near the edge of the wood. They wonder about us too I think."  
  
"And what... what do these... these elves look like?" Heidi asked walking to the bed, sitting down on it next to the girl hoping she was just making this up.  
  
"They don;t look like they do in stories."  
  
"No?" Heidi raised her eyebrows at this.  
  
"No... they're...",Larine began fidgeting nervously with the bow on her dress, "they're tall, elegant- graceful...", the child's voice suddenly seemed far away and dreamy, "very beautiful... especially at night."  
  
Heidi felt both frightened and enchanted by the Larine's words... she wasn't sure if she should be worried about her or not. "What do you mean, 'especially at night' dear?"  
  
The girl smiled softly as if swept up in a pleasant dream. "They... glow in the moonlight. The moon and the stars makes them glow."  
  
For a fleeting moment Heidi thought she remembered something. A memory of seeing someone like this when she was a child. Of looking out the window and seeing golden and silver human shapes moving to and fro in the woods. Singing- unearthly beautiful singing trailed in to her thoughts. The shapes we're singing... then another memory so very faint... of one of them singing to her in particular.  
  
Strange things were said to happen in those woods. Not really bad things.. just strange. ::What if... what if Larine is telling the truth?:: Quickly, she shook it off with a firm jerking of her head.  
  
"You don't believe me, do you?" Larine accused in a small voice.  
  
Heidi considered the notes and the voices that sand the song that was in that long lost memory floating around in her mind, "It's just hard to believe, Larine. I want to, it's just... You must've been dreaming." ::Yes a dream,that must be it. Just a dream.::  
  
The girl sat up with a stubborn look on her face. "I wasn't... and I'll...", she practically shook with her determination, "I'll prove it to YOU!"  
  
At that, Heidi got the sudden feeling she'd better watch Larine's movements for the next couple days. But she had caught one thing in the statement that puzzelled her. ::Why is she so determined to prove it to me personally?:: "Don't you want to prove it everyone dear?"  
  
"No, just you. They'll... they'll welcome you."  
  
"They?"  
  
"The elves."  
  
"Why me alone?" Heidi asked with a furrowed brow.  
  
"Cause you're like me. You're not like the others." With that, and a strange penetrating glance, Larine jumped off the bed and went downstairs, leaving Heidi perplexed and more worried than ever.  
  
TBC  
  
AAN: Yes, I know for a 4 to 5 year old Larine uses some pretty big words... I'm not good at writing kids. Think of her as a child genius... like Chiriko in Fushigi Yuugi... ah... yeah.... ^^;;;;; 


	2. Chapter 2

Of Fairy Tales and Arrows  
  
Chapter Two  
  
Heidi was awakened by the sound of a door being closed with a suspicious caution. At first her groggy mind paid no heed to it, then Larine's words floated back into her mind. She heard her grandparents rousing, thumping then the door opening downstairs, then shouts of her cousin's name followed.  
  
"She wouldn't have?" Heidi whispered to herself in disbelief, then awareness came upon her as if she'd just been doused with cold water. Sitting bolt upright, then climbing out of bed she hurried to get some clothes on, then ran downstairs through the living room to the kitchen and out the door.  
  
Her grandmother's weary, worried face greeted her with a well-hidden panic in her eyes, "It's Larine. We heard her get up and sneak out for some reason... I don't know why..."  
  
Heidi nodded, the chill of the night no longer penetrating her winter coat. She looked to her side... ::The woods... Yes, that had to be where she went!::  
  
"I think I know where she went grandma. I'll find her!" She rushed down the porch's steps calling over her shoulder, " Don't worry!" She grabbed a flashlight from the garage and ran to the fields ahead.  
  
::I'm responsible for this... I have to be the one to find her.:: She ran the rest of the way through the field and disappeared in to the woods.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Larine was beginning to grow frightened. She'd been here for what seemed hours. The last time she checked the farm was the way she was going... She was cold, a little hungry, and oh, so scared. What had possessed her to do this without bringing Heidi with her?  
  
She wanted to cry... In fact, her nose was already running. But she refused to cry. However, she only walked a few more minutes when she couldn't take it anymore. Everything looked different in the dark... and here the moonlight did not shine through to light her way, as the canopy above her was so thick. The trees had become shadows... big horrible shadows that seemed to want to reach out and grab her.  
  
"I want to go home..." she whispered. The long unshed tears clouded her eyes, leaving her to collapse on the ground in their wake.  
  
~~*~~  
  
"It's that child again Legolas," said his sister coming to meet him at the bottom of a hill.  
  
"Child?" he asked slightly confused as he looked up from a set of tracks he'd been following.  
  
Another elf followed wearing a frown. "The blond human girl. She's here."  
  
"In the middle of the night?!!" Legolas exclaimed. "As if the loss of one of our own is not enough!"  
  
His sister's youngest daughter- the one she loved the most as she was the child of her elder years- was missing. She had last been seen chasing moths in childish delight. They were sure she was not lost... just entranced by something else. Yet concern was still expressed for wild animals still did prey in these woods, and at these very hours when the elves themselves were called by the moon and stars to wake and sing. So without company or the protection of fire the elf-child was in danger... but the human girl was perhaps in even more danger than their kin. The elf girl knew the forest at night and in the day. The human did not. And not one of their children would dare go out without a dagger at least for protection... humans tended to lean more to the reckless side when it came to things... especially ones the girl's age. Legolas frowned feeling a slight panic flow through his veins.  
  
"Well, what should we do?" asked the elf Ilderis, an elf warrior of old that Legolas had grown up with. He swung waist length golden hair over his shoulder. His strong features set in a glare. "Leave her? Somehow guide her back?" The look on his face made it clear to the other two what his choice would be.  
  
"We can't just leave that human girl alone out there! There are bears... WOLF packs!" his sister proclaimed with firey eyes, finally loosing her composure after hours of worry about her own child.  
  
"We also can't expose ourselves to.... them. She is a HUMAN! They are no longer as they used to be. The old alliance... the link between the elves and the humans is broken. Leave her. Leave her to Valinor's graces. We are nothing more than... than creatures in stories to them now... she will be frightened if we help her." he snarled in reply to her.  
  
"You speak of murder Ilderis. You can't... even if we will expose ourselves, she's only a child..."  
  
"It makes no difference..." The other two elves knew why he was so againest this. They both supposed they would be too if they had watched their very own mate die at the hands of a human only but 100 years prior for taking pity on a lost human, who in fright at her glowing aura under the moon had taken one of their fire sticks that made a such a horrible deafening sound and killed her.  
  
"Where is she?" cut in Legolas' soft voice.  
  
"Why? What do you intend to do?" asked Ilderis with large eyes as he watched Legolas already begin to trek up the hill.  
  
Legolas looked back at him with determined, reprimanding eyes. "Her family will come looking for her. If not now, in a few hours time. And it also may be hours before they find her. That leaves us only two paths..."  
  
His sister made quick paces to stand before him with a desperate, mother like despair. "You won't... kill her will you? I know that with most intruders who find our hidden realms... who see us that is what we do... or at least imprison them... or find some other way to preserve the secrecy we dwell in but..."  
  
"THAT is not my intention. She is but a child Namarice," He set his gaze on Ilderis once more, "and this particular child has seen us. My theory is that she has come out here to seek us. For some unknown childish reason. It is safe to expose ourselves to a child..." ::Especially this child....::  
  
Ilderis' eyes grew hot with anger. "How..."  
  
"A child still has innocence, and thank the maker an open mind." Legolas proclaimed before his friend could finish. "And she will not have been the first child to see us."  
  
"Not the first?" Ilderis questioned with a raised eyebrow.  
  
Legolas set his jaw to keep the emotions from his face as he spoke in a soft voice. "Several years ago there was another of her family that did. A child of wonder... and a great sadness... The heart of an elf...", Legolas' brow furrowed in thought his words now just peppered with his random thoughts and memories. He looked at Ilderis and his confused expression, "She could never have done us harm... neither could this child...."  
  
Ilderis' who had come to live among them after him wife's death, had no knowledge prior to now of any of this... history. It made him uncomfortable. He could still see his wife.... he wanted to believe it, but....  
  
"You speak of the one you used to sing to... the one that..." , she glanced at Ilderis, realizing treading carefully about this would best around Ilderis. "The one who would watch us from her window at night as a child."  
  
Ilderis' was clearly shocked at this and he watched Legolas carefully, trying to see if his eyes, his facial expression would betray something more about this. It was clear there was more to it, something both were hiding.  
  
Legolas' eyes clouded with memories momentarily, his emotions being betrayed briefly before being set back to his normal passive expression. "She is that child no more. I have seen her just a few days ago. She is grown up. Her heart is still the same, just hardened by the years... I doubt she even remembers us."  
  
Ilderis nodded at this, trying to piece things together unsuccessfully. "Then what do you intend to do about this child lost in our forest?" He gracefully and in a much calmer tone and manner asked as he made his way to the siblings in front of him.  
  
Legolas looked down obviously in thought. "If I find that her family has begun searching for her I will lead her to her home. If not then we have no choice but to take her into the heart of Little Greenwood. If that happens... we will watch over her until dawn, then lead her to the edge of the wood where they will surely find her, or she herself can make her own way back."  
  
"And what if we are seen by one of the other humans?" Ilderis challenged.  
  
"Then we shall see. It may be just a chance meeting... one they will shake off as no more than a mirage or a dream, even a trick of the light... or... I shall meet my death." Legolas said looking away and heading further up the hill once more.  
  
"Wait! Wait! What do you mean? You will meet YOUR death Legolas?" his sister cried running up the hill.  
  
"I am taking full responsibility for the child. You and Ilderis will continue to search for Laris." They each gave him a hard, unbelieving look. "'Tis better that just one of us suffer that fate than several. Now where is she?"  
  
"In the middle of the wood next to the Great Tree." Namarice answered softly.  
  
Legolas nodded and turned on his heel ascending the rest of the slope, leaving the other two staring after him in worry.  
  
TBC...  
  
AN: Okay.... well first I'd like to point out that I am NOT fluent in Elvish... hence I just made us Ilderis, Namarice, and Laris' names hoping they sounded elvish. (Watch it WILL be a form of elvish... only they'll have very baaaaaaaad meanings). Also, the Legolas sister thing... okay this is my personal opinion... I do not believe Legolas to be an only child given my observations when reading the book and listening to the totally awesome radio drama by BBC. I believe him to, YES be A prince of Mirkwood, but not the heir. That being my argument I believe his father may have had at least another child. In this story, Legolas has an elder brother who resides with his father... where ever they may be. According to the book Legolas started his own, I don't know what you'd call it... tribe maybe, of elves. This leads me to conclude what I do, and it is this same band of elves that he leads now in the woods of my story... ahem... end my opinions and explanations. Please don't be mad at me if you disagree, for I understand if you do.  
  
Anyway, how do you like the chapter? Feedback is niiiiiiiice....^_^ Thanks to all who have reviewed this on my LJ, and those who do in the future. And thanks to Brenda and Tina and Tsukiori for making me get off my lazy duff and actually start posting this....  
  
Random quote of the day (or inside joke):  
  
I LOVE SPAGHETTI!!!!! ^_~ 


	3. Chapter 3

Of Fairy Tales And Arrows  
Chapter Three  
  
Heidi looked at her watch, then stopped to look both ways about her, shivering with cold. She'd been out here for nearly an hour, and no trace of her little cousin was to be seen. She let out a few puffs of visible crystalized breaths and continued forward.  
  
::Where could she have gone? I'm almost in to the heart of the forest and...:: She had looked up from her tracks and was greeted with a strange sight. A person- at least she thought it was a person- seemed to be looking at her from a distance on top of a rise of the earth. What was throwing her off was that this person seemed to be... glowing.  
  
::What the...?:: Her heartbeat sped up and for a wild moment she was paralyzed with fear. ::Okay, UFOs and aliens DO NOT EXIST! I KNOW THAT!!!:: But she continued to stare back at the person in front of her. There was no denying that he was indeed glowing. Then her cousin's words floated back into her mind...  
  
*"They're tall and elegant- graceful, beautiful especially at night."  
  
"What do you mean 'especially at night?'"  
  
"They glow in the moonlight. The moon and the stars makes them glow..."*  
  
At remembering the conversation her breath escaped her. :: Surely... surely it's not... true.::  
  
Then before she could really register in her mind what she was doing, she was walking. Making her way toward it. ::Maybe I can ask him where Larine is.:: She was able to make out finally that it was indeed a man she walking towards, only with pointed ears. Blue eyes stared back at her. Somehow she remembered this man's face, the proud way he stood... but she couldn't figure out where.  
  
She had crossed only to the mid point when he turned and began walking away. Heidi caught herself from calling out to him to wait. Why should he? She didn't know him. How could she know him? But she still felt compelled to follow the path ahead to see if maybe he waiting for her ahead below the hill.  
  
She finally reached her destination, eagerly looking ahead, heart still pounding wildly. Then she couldn't help but let out a heavy sigh of disappointment. He wasn't there. She shook her head. ::I must've been imagining things... ::  
  
Then her hearing peaked in alarm when she heard a twig snap to her right at the bottom of the hill. Looking up she felt the fearful, yet curious excitement return. He was there! She set off in a run in that direction only to set him off in a run when she reached the half way point. Only he was still in sight, yet sprinting on. She let out a sound of disgust then keeled over out of breath from running in the icy cold.  
  
Her exclamation caused him to stop apparently. Why she didn't know. She had come to the conclusion at that point that he either didn't want her to follow him or was playing will-o-wisp.  
  
"Come. I know where she is." she heard a soft, song like male voice call out to her.  
  
::He knows where "she" is?:: Heidi's eyes grew wide as she looked up at him, and immediately her poor lungs trauma was forgotten. All else but her cousin was forgotten.  
  
When he seen he had her attention he began to walk slowly on glancing over his shoulder to see that she was following. She had decided that probably purposely keeping her distance from her guide was best, as this seemed to be what he preferred.  
  
Finally, when she knew she was at the heart of the forest he suddenly seemed to vanish into the trees with just an arm that pointed ahead of them as her last guiding hope. Finally, she came to the spot where he last stood and was relieved to behold the sleeping form of her cousin.  
  
Almost on the verge of crying she ran to her. It suddenly struck her that the child was wrapped up in a blanket, was still in her night gown with only light tennis shoes on her feet. She shook her awake just to be sure she would awake. Slowly, the child's blond eyelashes fluttered and she peered up at her cousin with confused then relieved and happy eyes.  
  
"Heidi!" she squealed and sat up to embrace her tightly with lightening reflexes.  
  
"Thank you." Heidi said aloud, the words being whispered back and forth among the trees.  
  
TBC... 


	4. Chapter 4

Of Fairy Tales and Arrows  
  
Chapter Four  
  
"Were you scared?" Heidi asked as she held Larine's hand to guide her back to the house. The blanket of silvery silk-like material was draped over her shoulder.  
  
"Not at first, but then it seemed like the forest was coming alive and..." the memory made the child shiver and bring her back to the verge of tears.  
  
Heidi stopped and bent down in front of her. "It was very brave of you to come out here all by yourself, but also very dangerous and unwise. So try to remember not to do it anymore, okay?"  
  
The girl nodded wiping at her eyes.  
  
"Good, and I believe you now. Cause one of them led me to you." Heidi said in a whisper with a smile. She watched the girl's eyes widen and her mouth open to form words, but Heidi just put a finger to her lips and kissed her on the forehead. "Come on. I'm sure grandma is worried sick." She stood back up and continued walking.  
  
They reached the edge of the wood in silence. "Here we are." Heidi said seeing the house in the distance and the shape of their grandmother pacing on the porch.  
  
The words had just came from her mouth, when they were greeted with a very human-like scream from the side of the forest opposite from where they had just come.  
  
"What was that?" Larine asked looking about her wildly.  
  
Heidi herself had just been thinking and doing the same thing. She looked back at the farm house ahead. "You go on to the house Larine. I'm gonna go and check out who that was and see if they are all right."  
  
"But..." Larine began to protest.  
  
"Go on! Go!" She extracted her hand from the girl's hold and turned off to her right and began walking. She went a few paces then turned back around. The child was still standing there with a petrified look on her face.  
  
"Larine, go to the house NOW!" Heidi yelled. The girl jumped, then spun on her heel sprinting to the house.  
  
Heidi shook her head then determindly headed in the direction she heard the scream come from. While she was walking she kept trying to banish the horrific images playing in her mind of what might lie ahead.  
  
Finally when she happened to just stop and take a rest she heard whimpering, yelps, and groaning and crying come from behind a thick cluster of trees and brush. She set off in a run towards it, then when she reached her destination she was forced to stop dead in her tracks. The very sight of it was painful and shocking to look at.  
  
A child was caught in a bear trap. Her leg soaked in blood... She kept trying to pull it free from the position on the ground she lay in. But every time she tried to find some sort of release for her leg the more apparent it became that she could not have it. To top it off Heidi noticed she was like... HIM. Her flaxen hair glowed in the moonlight. Her pearly skin shimmered with an aura of gold. When the initial shock wore off she began walking slowly and purposely to the girl ahead.  
  
The child finally saw her approach through her tears and distress and let out a scream followed by another attempt to free her leg.  
  
When Heidi had come to stand before the child, she slowly held up her hands and lowered herself to be eye level with her. The girl stared at her with fearful, tear stricken eyes, then began speaking in a pleading voice. Problem was... it wasn't English. It was a beautiful language to her ears... but she knew what was being said, given how frightened the golden child looked.  
  
"I won't hurt you. I promise I won't. I'm here to help." Then she quietly dropped the blanket and flash light to the ground.  
  
Slowly, she reached around the trap and found the release mechanism. The girl still stared at her alertedly and with a great deal of suspicion. Heidi couldn't help but feel the intensity of how the girl watched her waiting with baited breath for her to do something wrong.  
  
"This will hurt, but you'll be okay." she told her in what she hoped was a soothing tone.  
  
Gathering all her strength she pushed down on the release. At first she thought it would not budge, then it began to whine as it's jaws retracted to free the child's leg. The girl let out a strangled scream, and at the same moment in the back of her mind Heidi also thought she heard a rustling and the creepy sensation that suddenly many eyes were upon her. She pushed the feeling aside and concentrated on the more immediate problem- the trap, and finally it let it's captive free.  
  
The girl immediately crawled back in haste and carefully, but definately had an added sense of relief. Heidi released her agonizing pressure on the traps rusty release. After that she took a few deep breaths and looked up at the child, then around her, searching for the source of her discomfort. However, she only saw the girl. Her brow creased in confusion and alarm.  
  
"I'm sure there was someone...." she muttered. She then looked back at the girl and at her wound.  
  
She stood up quickly without thinking and watched the girl flinch and yelp as she crawled back more. She let a tolerant smile come to her lips and tried to come to the child. But the girl kept backing up until finally she was flat backed against a tree.  
  
"I won't hurt you, I promise." She looked at the bloody wound again and grimaced. * I have to get that leg wrapped.* She tried to think of something she could use then finally looked down at the sleeves of her shirt that were poking out from under her coat. It was all she had to work with. Sighing, she undid the coat and began to work on the buttons of her shirt. The girl stared at her in confusion and wrapped herself into a ball.  
  
Clad only in a sports bra, the cold piercing her skin immediately, she bent down, coaxed the child into brandishing her wound, and wrapped it. The girl had apparently gotten over her wariness with this gesture and let Heidi get up and collect the silver blanket to wrap around the girl's shoulders. Noticing after a minute or two how lightly clad the child was and was still shivering from the cold she managed to get the girl into her coat.  
  
The girl was smiling now. "What about you? You have to be cold..."  
  
Heidi stared at her in shock. "You speak English?"  
  
"Yes. It's not my first language... but yes. But what about you? You'll get cold."  
  
*That explains it. She was scared. It made her lapse back into her own tongue.*  
  
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Where do you live? I need to get you home."  
  
"NO!!!!" The girl screeched making Heidi stare at her in surprise.  
  
"Why? Are you running away?" Heidi asked with a small smile.  
  
"No... it's just... it's a secret place." the child said mystically.  
  
"Oh. What about your parents? Any idea where they are?" Heidi asked.  
  
"Out looking for me I guess."  
  
Heidi sighed in resignation, then flattened herself on the ground. "Then we'll sit here and wait for them to find you."  
  
"Why?" the child asked making Heidi do a double take.  
  
"Why to what?" Heidi asked.  
  
"Why are you going to wait with me?" The child asked looking around her oddly for a moment.  
  
"Well, I can't leave you here alone."  
  
"Oh..." was all that she said in return.  
  
They sat for what seemed hours, and every now and then Heidi was sure she heard whispering voices. She had to admit it was beginning to creep her out. As if the cold didn't send enough chills down her spine already.  
  
"Do you want your coat back?" the child asked quietly watching Heidi shiver and close her eyes as she wrapped her arms about herself for the millionth time.  
  
"No, it's fine."  
  
TBC.... 


	5. Chapter 5

Of Fairy Tales and Arrows  
  
Chapter 5  
  
"We HAVE to go and get her! We have to!" Namarice insisted to Ildaris.  
  
"No." he said point blankly.  
  
"Look at the human Ildaris. All of us have sat out here for hours. We can't wait her out anymore. Unlike us that human can get sick. Very sick."  
  
Ildaris jaw set. "Then let her. It'll be due to her own idiocy anyway."  
  
"It will be on our heads if she does. It is for one of OUR children that she faces it."  
  
Ildaris opened his mouth to speak when Legolas' footsteps were heard approaching. He came up to them with a grim face, then looked out at the human and the elf-child.  
  
"What is going on here?" he demanded immediately.  
  
Both opened their mouths to speak at once. Namarice was the quickest. "He refused to let me go and claim my child as she is being guarded by that human..." she pointed to the girl who sat next to his niece curled up about herself shivering as the elf-girl kept throwing her worried glances and shooting pointed looks in their direction.  
  
"It is..." Ildaris began.  
  
"Ildaris... at times you really are nothing but a pompous wind bag." Legolas said irritably then leaving the other two gaping after him, began to walk out of their cover barking, "Come!", over his shoulder.  
  
The two stragglers cast glimpses at one another and followed.  
  
~~**~~  
  
Heidi looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. Immediately in her view appeared the man she'd been following earlier. Her chill forgotten she stood as he approached. Trailing behind was a woman and another man. The man looked almost hostile the woman with wary relief.  
  
"Mama!" the child squealed in delight. It seemed to have broken through the woman's cautious barriers and she came charging to her daughter's waiting arms. Scooping the child up she held back relieved tears and turned to only a sound a thanks but only a gracious glow on her face passed.  
  
Heidi smiled back at her wearily and nodded.  
  
"Return her and tend the wound." commanded the man before her to the woman, then her turned his head to the side. " You too, Ildaris."  
  
Heidi watched the man behind her get a defiant look in his eyes, then he just began walking he threw a brief nod toward Heidi and went on without looking back.  
  
Finally, the one that appeared to be the leader among them peered back at her.  
  
Silently they scrutinized the other, but Heidi couldn't help thinking she knew him from somewhere. Which she knew had to be ridiculous. But then the idea of elves existing was ridiculous only a few hours ago as well.  
  
"I want to thank you for all you have done for my niece and sister. I will see to it that your coat is returned to you by morning."  
  
"It's okay. I'll be fine."  
  
He seemed slightly amused by that.  
  
"You won't say that when your nose swells up."  
  
She smirked at that. "She needs the warmth of it more than I do."  
  
He nodded as if resigning himself not to argue with her. He stared at her for a long second, as if a hidden pain or memory was there.  
  
"I must return." Then with a curt nod he turned and began to leave her. "Namarie."  
  
But something at the tip of her mind kept prodding her and she had to know the answer. With a sudden nervous flutter she called out, "Have we met before? You know, before this night."  
  
When he stopped and turned around the expression on his face stunned her.  
  
TBC... 


	6. Chapter 6

Of Fairy Tales and Arrows  
Chapter Six  
  
His eyes were wide and almost hurt looking. He knew it. He was hoping she wouldn't remember... but he also, deep down had been wishing that she did. He couldn't deny it. "You're beginning to remember aren't you?"  
  
Her expression turned from inquiring to perplexed. "No",she shook her head,"it's just.... I remember your... presence."  
  
He walked back to her unable to hide the satisfaction in his eyes.  
  
"Tell me how I know you." Heidi demanded once he stood before her again.  
  
He smiled weakly, then looked down shifting slightly in his place. "When you were a child you used to open your window at night and sit there looking out into our woods..."  
  
The songs she heard in her mind returned.  
  
"I used to sing you to sleep." He stopped, as he looked at her. Recognition was starting to show in her eyes. "One time... after your father died- just after...", he watched her look away, then back up in shock. Clearly she was wondering how he knew about her father. ,"your grandmother was looking after you for a fortnight, but two days into it you had a... a dream."  
  
She remembered that horrible dream... but it had been a long time since she had had it on a consistent basis. In it she relived her father's death, in it he kept calling out for her from the inferno he was trapped in by the metal frame work of the car he died in. Each time she tried to go to him to get him out, but it was like something was blocking her way....  
  
"Your grandmother couldn't quiet you. You sneaked out... much as your young cousin had tonight, and I found you."  
  
The images were coming back to both of them now. Images of a muddy, scared, heartbroken child and a brilliant golden, angelic like creature coming to her rescue. Giving to each an unknown and strange peace and calm. Like she was with a person she belonged with... he with a child he could for those moments call his. A tear unknownest to Heidi fell down her cheek. She shivered again from both cold and from the release of a pint up emotion... one she had buried so long ago... one she felt she wanted to leave there.  
  
"I tried taking you back. You refused to go. I took you finally to my sister's house amongist the ancient trees of this forest. I stayed with you almost the entire time. You would only stop crying for your father when I was there... You let us take you home after three days..."  
  
He remembered it acutely now and it pained him to a point. It was the closest to feeling like a father he'd ever known, or ever would know. He'd never let the feeling go. He had chosen to live out his life alone... contenting himself with other feelings and pleasures, doing his best not to long for love or family. Yet he could not deny it. This girl or rather the girl she was brought the feelings, the longing to him with force. Now the grown woman stood before him, heart much the same, but still grown and no longer the child he had once cradled as his own those three nights, or sang asleep under the moon. His eyes were wide with emotion s he watched her catch up in revelry.  
  
"I pretended you were there when I got back... I could only sleep if I sang the songs you sang to me before I closed my eyes... they were the only things that had driven away the monsters and horrors of the night and in my dreams..." she whispered. She looked up and around his back at the feathery backs of his arrows sticking out, then let out a little laugh tinged with tears. He cocked his head looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "I wanted to make arrows like yours... I remember that. I tried for years, even when I could not remember the reason why anymore. I never could. My skills were inclined elsewhere. In drawing, not sculpting. I suppose in a way, I thought of you as my father."  
  
He smiled at that and of the memory of watching her from a distance trying to carve an arrow out of wood. He nodded in answer for her to go on. She was still like his child in some ways now even, and his heart almost leapt and cried at once with her next words.  
  
"You were my father to a point. I loved you like one... but... but...", she looked him up and down as two more fat tears splattered down her cheeks, "that was over 20 years ago... How...?" she wondered at his youth still haunting his features.  
  
"We do not die... Heidi." he whispered. "We do not grow old... we just continue on as we always have been." he answered guessing at her unspoken question.  
  
He saw her frown as she took this in, and then for some reason her memory finally yeilded his name, "Legolas?"  
  
His eyes registered surprise for an instant then he nodded.  
  
Before she could even think twice about it she flung herself at him and hugged him tightly crying into his tunic. Images of her father, of her very vague memory of his sister's home spun in her head... but he was clear- as clear as her father's memory, and the feeling of childlike love came back to her for him.  
  
Legolas was slow to react and when he did it was but gently. "Again I need to urge you... you must leave my embrace, and go back where you belong..."  
  
She looked up and a stubborn streak flashed into her eyes. But it quickly went away and she pulled away now aware of the night's chill more acutely after having been in his warmth. She turned and began walking.  
  
"Heidi..." he said behind her. She turned and looked back at him wiping her eyes. "Remember that brief time in our keep and when I called you daughter... It will bring you comfort and the strength to believe it'll be all right in even the most desperate time. Remember..."  
  
She smiled and nodded then in a steady run made for home. Legolas stared after her until his vision could carry him no further, then with a somewhat satisfied feeling whispered, "Namarie" to her only to be answered by the whispering of the forest. 


	7. Chapter 7

Of Fair Tales and Arrows  
Chapter Three  
  
Heidi stretched as she woke, and for the hundredth time wondered if what had happened two nights ago had been a dream. Her father had been weighing heavy on her heart as of late... until that night in the woods. The weight wasn't as heavy now but it was still there.  
  
She got up reluctantly, knowing it was useless to fight for sleep. She got dressed and began packing. She wanted to leave before noon to get a good start. After she was done she hauled her suitcase downstairs and breakfasted on the runny eggs her grandmother insisted on making her. She hugged both grandparents goodbye, then opened the door to find Larine out on the porch swing.  
  
She went out, flanked by her grandparents and put her suitcase down in front of her. "Good-bye you." she said to her.  
  
The girl refused to look at her.  
  
She bent down in front of her and put a finger under her chin to lift her head. Tears were staining the girl's eyes. "Oh, sweetie." She drew her in a hug. "I'll be back int he summer."  
  
"You will?" the girl whimpered.  
  
"Promise. Now I have to go." She tried pulling away but the child held on.  
  
"I don't want you to." Larine whined.  
  
"I have to." Heidi said pulling out of the child's embrace. "But remember... the elves." She winked and was grateful to hear a giggle from Larine.  
  
She picked up the suitcase, made a few more impatient rounds of good-byes and hauled her trunk off the porch to the trunk, opened it and flung it inside with a good thumping and closed the lid. She waved another good-bye and got in her car, fired the vehicle to life.  
  
She turned and glanced at her passenger's seat. On it lay her coat, a silver blanket and a silver arrow engraved with streams of gold. She picked it up in wonder then noticed words were engraved in it in gold lettering.  
  
Remember...  
  
Any other time she would find this sinister, perhaps frightening, but instead it delighted her. She knew what it truly meant... and there was no threat intended.  
  
She remembered... she'd asked if she could have one like it when she was a child having seen Legolas making one with deep care... he gave her one now. He remembered that... Even if she had forgotten, he hadn't. She looked up and saw everyone coming off the porch wondering about her delay. She waved a hand and backed out unto the road, then happened to look over into the woods.  
  
Plainly to her eyes, but it wouldn't be to those who weren't this close, stood Legolas, arm raised in farewell, and the two people that were with him and the child she had found the night before behind him waving at her as well. She raised an arm in farewell then put the car into gear, and with a quick glance back at the 4 in the woods, drove on. The lone word etched into the arrow singing in her mind... for she planned to do just what it said. When she was in need of some beauty to carry on- some happiness to build strength from within, she'd think back to the time as a frightened and sad girl, and see her time with the one whom she had been given peace and acceptance from in cruel and harsh world. She'd never let go of it, but remember forever on.  
  
The End  
  
AAN: Many thanks to those who have commented on this. It means a lot. *hugs* I'm not good with endings, and I'm also afraid that this story doesn't convey the emotional power I wanted. But I hope it's enjoyable. In other news as well, my bud Caesar will be making a MST version of this story. He's let me see it. It looks majorly cool so far. Well. This is it. Until next time, namarie. 


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